ORD 2164 - Laserfiche WebLink

Ord.2164 Page 11 WHEREAS, smoking is the primary cause of fire-related injuries and deaths in the home, as evidenced by the following: • Cigarettes, cigars, pipes and other smoking materials are the leading cause of fire deaths in the United States, causing an estimated 90,000 smoking- related fires, 540 deaths, 1640 injuries, and $621 million in direct property damage in 2011; and • One in four fatalities from home fires caused by smoking is NOT the smoker whose cigarette started the fire, and 25% of those deaths were of neighbors or friends of the smoker; and • The United States Fire Administration recommends that people smoke outdoors; and WHEREAS, nonsmokers who live in multifamily rental apartments can be exposed to neighbors' secondhand smoke, as evidenced by the following: • Secondhand smoke can seep under doorways and through wall cracks; and • Persons living in apartments near smokers can be exposed to elevated pollution levels for 24 hours a day, and at times, the particulate matter exposure can exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 24-Hour Health Based Standard; and • The Surgeon General has concluded that eliminating smoking in indoor spaces is the only way to fully protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke exposure and that separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot completely prevent secondhand smoke exposure; and WHEREAS, asthma is one of the leading causes of absenteeism among school children, which can be easily prevented with proper prevention and management; asthma attacks cause people with asthma and their family members to miss thousands of days at work each year; and WHEREAS, although the long-term health effects of using electronic cigarettes are still unknown, initial studies have found carcinogens and toxic chemicals, including nicotine, in electronic cigarette aerosols: • A recent scientific study confirmed that electronic smoking devices that contain nicotine also emit nicotine in the released vapor and involuntarily expose nonsmokers to nicotine; and • The United States Food and Drug Administration (the "FDA") conducted laboratory analysis of electronic cigarette samples and found they contained carcinogens and toxic chemicals to which users and bystanders could potentially be exposed; and